Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Born on this date in 1941, Simon Nolet played his junior hockey with the Quebec Citadelles of the QJHL. In 1961-62 he scored 52 points in 39 games and another 8 in 10 playoff games as the Citadelles qualified for the 1962 Memorial Cup, where Nolet added another 6 points in 9 games.

From there he moved to the Windsor Maple Leafs of the Nova Scotia Senior Hockey League for two seasons where he was a dominant force, averaging 120 points a year at a two point per game average including scoring 68 goals in 68 games in 1963-64. He sat out the following regular season, but joined the Sherbrooke Beavers for the playoffs and scored 21 goals and 35 points in 15 games to lead Sherbrooke to the 1965 Allan Cup championship.

He turned professional with the Quebec Aces of the American Hockey League the following season. After two seasons with the Aces, he made his NHL debut with the expansion Philadelphia Flyers for four games in the 1967-68 season, but played the majority of his games with the Aces for a third year.

Simon Nolet as a member of the Quebec Aces

Nolet spilt time with the Flyers and Aces in 1968-69, which included scoring his first NHL points with 4 goals and 10 assists in 35 games for the Flyers. He increased his games played the following season to 56 and topped the 20 goal mark for the first time with 22. He also played his final 22 games with the Aces, the fifth season as an Aces regular.

Starting with the 1970-71 season, Nolet played exclusively in the NHL, suiting up for 74 games, a career high. The next season Nolet pushed his high in goals up one to 23 and appeared in his first NHL All-Star Game. After two more seasons with the Flyers, which included winning a Stanley Cup in 1974.

1973-74 Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers

With the NHL expanding for the 1974-75 season, Nolet was left unprotected in the 1974 NHL Expansion Draft, and was claimed by the Kansas City Scouts. The change from Stanley Cup champions to expansion doormats was a mixed blessing for Nolet. While another championship was out of the question, the seven-year NHL veteran was named as the first ever team captain for the Scouts and was heavily relied upon by Kansas City. He did not disappoint, setting a career high in goals with 26, which included the first goal in Scouts history, assists with 32 and points with 58 to lead the team in scoring as well as being the Scouts representative at the NHL All-Star Game.

The first captain of the Scouts, Simon Nolet

He played the first half of the 1975-76 season with the Scouts prior to being traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he would play the second half of the season. He was then transferred to the Colorado Rockies for the 1976-77 season as compensation for the Penguins signing goaltender Denis Herron. In actuality, the Rockies were the same Scouts franchise he had previously played for, only freshly relocated to Denver. Nolet was again named as team captain and retired at the conclusion of the season with 150 goals and 332 points in 10 seasons.

Today's featured jersey is a 1974-75 Kansas City Scouts Simon Nolet jersey as worn during the season in which Nolet made his second NHL All-Star Game appearance after being named the first captain in franchise history.

While the club retained the same color pattern after moving to Denver, the jerseys were thankfully simplified, as the Scouts striping pattern was far busier than needed thanks to the red pinstripes running inside the yellow stripes, making for a pattern which included nine different stripes, making for a quite busy pattern which was not easy on the eyes.

Bonus Jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1975 NHL All-Star Game Simon Nolet jersey as worn in the second NHL All-Star Game of Nolet's career which was held in Montreal. This style of All-Star jersey was first used in 1973 and lasted until 1981, a very long run by today's standards.

In this video clip, the Flyers and Nolet win the 1974 Stanley Cup and hold one heck of a parade.

Our aim is to feature a different jersey each day from a historical perspective. Stay tuned and hopefully you'll see some jerseys of interest or perhaps some that you haven't seen before and learn a bit of hockey history along the way.

In addition to our articles, be sure to scroll down this column and explore the other fun and informative features of this blog.

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